"Buried somewhat quietly in the noise of Google's spate of announcements today was an interesting fact: the Nexus Q, Google's new media streamer and first self-built consumer hardware, is being manufactured in the United States." Just getting their toes wet, for sure, but it's interesting it's Google making the first attempt to bring back production to the west. I won't comment on whether or not production should move back in the first place, but in all honesty, I expected Apple to be the one to make the first move here.

China still pays some of the lowest wages. They have no OSHA or EPA to watch out for workers or the environment. They still use prison labor and their policies on child labor is still one of the worst. They are not a free country and paying them at all enforced the slavery imposed on the people. They manipulate the currency and dump products. The quality of Chinese products still lacks any modern manufacturing facility.

You make some fair points, apart from the last sentence, China now has some modern factories many owned by European and US companies. How will China develop, looking into the future is a dangerous thing - maybe we will see the return of the Red Guard but I doubt it.

More likely the Chinese middle classes will grow and with increased industrialization Chinese workers will become more affluent. Chinese politics may become more open and technocratic as a way of managing the country in a more efficient manner. I'm sure that China will become more assertive in the world, its presence in Africa now is not unlike, the "unofficial empire" and I think it is likely that in parts of Africa it will gets its fingers burned like the old imperial powers.

Don't expect China (or India) to stay squalid and backward that is unlikely. If we de-industrialise as China Industrialists, well that looks like stupidity to me.